Thursday, August 14, 2014

Andrianampoinimerina: Founder of a New Merina Kingdom

A
lone big island stand in the East Coast of Africa. The island of Madagascar is
the largest island in the African continent. And here a story of Kingdom would
begin. Once a small divided Kingdom at the center of the island, a king would
rise up to unite once more this kingdom. King Andrianampoinimerina would
take challenges by battle or by diplomacy to unite the divided Merina Kingdom
and enlarge it to dominate the whole island.In
the large, mountainous and jungle forest of central Madagascar, the Kingdom of
the Imerina stand divided during the 18th century. Before this division the
Imerina, later Merina Kingdom, was united and formed during the 16th century. However,
during the early 18th century, it was divided into four principalities and
given to the King’s four sons. These four principalities with centers at: Antananarivo,
Ambohidratrimo, Ambohimanga, and Ambohidrabiby. These four Kingdoms fought each
other for supremacy and dominance. In this chaotic time, that the future King
Andrianampoinimerina would be born.

Born
as Rambosalama, the later King Andrianampoinimerina was born to royalty. He
was in 1745 in Ikaloy at the northern part of Madagascar. His parents were both
of royal descent. His father, Andriamiaramanjaka was a member of the Zafimamy
family, which ruled the Kingdom of Alahamadintany. Meanwhile, his mother,
Ranavalonandriambelomasina, was the daughter of the Merina king in Ambohimanga,
King Andriambelomasina (ruling: 1730 – 1770). Until 12 years old, he lived with
his father in Ikaloy. But afterwards, he then moved with his mother to
Ambohimanga and faced the prospects of becoming a Merina King. After he moved
to Ambohimanga, Rambosalamaa took interest in being merchant, making himself
fabulously wealthy with slave trade. He also took interest on the Merina
people, defending their welfare and rights.

Then
in 1770, Rambosalama’s life became chaotic. King Andriambelomasina died,
leaving his throne to Rambosalama’s uncle, Andrianjafy. But before he passed
away, King Andriambelomasina left an order of succession. After Andrianjafy,
Ramboslama was to succeed him. When Andrianjafy took the throne, he had another
thing on his mind when it comes to succession. He did not want his nephew to
succeed him, he wants his own flesh and blood to take it after his eventual
passing away. And so 1784, a murder attempt was orchestrated by the King to
single out Rambosalama. Luckily for Rambosalama, he was warned and allowed him
to escape back to the north, to Ikaloy. There he plotted his return.
Rambosalama received support from many Merina nobles. This allowed him to fight
his uncle. For three years, civil war rattled the Ambohimanga principality. By
1787, Ramboslama’s forces marched triumphantly to Ambohimanga. His uncle was
said to have been either exiled or killed, various sources tell different
story.

After
his enthronement as King, he set out to unify the Merina Kingdom once more.
Through skirmishes and diplomacy he succeeded by the early 1790’s. In 1795, in
order to remove the threat of Andrianjafy loyalist in Ambohimanga, he moved the
capital to Antananarivo (the city of thousands). There he took the name of
Andrianampoinimerina or the Prince in the Heart of Imerina.

As
the King of the newly unified Merina Kingdom, the King set out to dominate the
whole island. Through political marriages, negotiations, and through constant
wars, the borders of the Merina Kingdom expanded. The Kingdoms of Betsileo,
Sihanaka, and Bezanozano fell to his forces. He attempted as well to conquer
the Kingdom of Saklara, but resistance was intense and the war dragged on for
decades.

In
other business, he showed the same vigor the same way in war. He set out to
have diplomatic relations with the French in the nearby island of Mauritius and
Reunion Island. He also launched wide range of irrigation projects that would
strengthen Merina’s food supply. His numerous irrigation projects helped to
cultivate rice twice a year. And as a result, rice production rose in order to
feed both the civilian populace, as well as the army. To increase manpower for
public works, the King utilized the fanampoana, or mandatory providing of
service for free. This served, however, as force labor to the people. He also
ban all private slave trade enterprises. He monopolized the slave trade in
order to block access of rivals to money in form of lucrative slave trade. He
did not just have the kingdom’s coffers filled but also rooted out threats.
Another work of King Andrianampoinimerina was the Zoma Market. It was a weekly
market place that where people could sell their products every Fridays.

Throughout
his reign, his people saw him as a benevolent ruler. He acted out against abuses
of officials to the people. They respected him for this and called him the
People’s King. His reign marked the rise of Merina dominance of the Madagascar
Island. However, he did not saw the further advances of his country, he passed
this duty to his son upon his deathbed. In 1810, after catching a cold and
dying, his last words to his son, future King Radama I, “the sea is my last
frontier.”

King
Andrianampoinimerina was born from a chaotic time. But from this, he used his
mind and his energy to take the throne that was rightly for him and achieved
the reunification of once divided Kingdom. From unification he went out for
expansion, conquering his neighbors through diplomacy or through war. He set
out to improve his nation economy and cementing his dynasty’s rule. He passed
the throne to his son, with a path towards new heights, and a start of a roller
coaster ride for the history of the Merina Kingdom.